CHAPTER 2

            “Blistering icicles!” exclaimed Captain Cactus

            “How did that get on board?” asked Chicory.

Cactus glanced towards the shore.

            “You left the gangplank down, you dimwit!” she scolded

            “I wanted to stretch my legs and wake myself up a bit” whined Chicory sulkily.

            “Help me catch it” grumbled the Captain.  But the pig ran up and down and around, and the two pirates scrambled around after it, until finally they had it cornered by the rowing boat.

            “What kind of a pig is it, Cap’n?” asked Chicory.

            “Dunno, Chic, but if we fatten it up, we’ll be able to sell it and buy some paint” said Cactus.  “Let’s put it in the hold until morning and get back to bed.”

            The next day the pirates stayed at the island and made a wooden pen to keep the pig in.  When they had finished, they set sail for the mainland to see if anyone wanted them to deliver or collect anything, always, of course, on the lookout for other ships to plunder.  The pig seemed quite happy in its pen, snuffling about and giving the occasional squeal.

            “We’ll call it Oink”, suggested Chicory.

            “And I think”, said, Captain Cactus, pulling out her chart, “that we’ll call the Big Island, Pig Island”, and she wrote in the name on the map.

            “Because that’s where we found Oink?” asked Chicory.

            “And that’s where Oink found us” added the Captain.  

            So captain Cactus, Chicory and Oink the Pig sailed peacefully on the Purple Hamster (which was still blue), little realising that things were about to go a little wrong.

            After a few days, the Purple Hamster reached the mainland.

            “Let’s see if we can pick up some work” said Captain Cactus, tying a fluorescent orange and pink headscarf around her black hair.

            “Do you have to wear that hideous thing?” protested Chicory, but one look from the Captain made her shut up.

            They left the ship and wandered along the quayside as far as the Crown Inn.  The Crown was an old building, but it was kept in good repair, and anyone who took a room there, said it was clean and comfortable.  Captain Cactus and Chicory entered and went up to the bar.

            “Morning, Landlord” said Cactus politely. “Would you be having any work for us, perhaps?”

            “Ah! Cactus” said the landlord, whose name was Bill Bloom.  He was a jolly, round man with bushy whiskers, and a clean, white apron tied around his middle.  “Just the person I wanted to see”.  He gestured for them to follow him into the back room and shut the door after them.

            “Why the secrecy, Bill?” asked Cactus quietly.

            “The Governor wants a Very Important Package delivered to Government House.  It is to arrive here tomorrow.”

            “Why can’t it go by land? asked Chicory

            “The Governor thinks it will be safer by sea.  He will pay handsomely.  Will you do it, Cactus?”

            “Do we know what’s in this Very Important Package?” asked Captain Cactus.

Bill Bloom shook his head. 

After a few moments, Cactus replied “Aye, Bill.  We’ll do it.  We need the money.”

            What they didn’t know was that Greenbelly’s henchmen, had been at the inn, and had over heard every word, by listening through the keyhole, (a low down pirate trick.)  And Albert and Ross had followed Captain Cactus and Chicory back to the Purple Hamster, and watched as they went up the gangplank and past the pig-pen to the Captains cabin.  They quickly stole back to the Sea Slug to give Captain Greenbelly the news.

The next day, with the Very Important Package collected and placed safely in Cactus’ cabin, the Purple Hamster set sail for Government House.  Chicory was looking through the telescope when she gave a cry.

“There’s the Sea Slug, Cap’n.”

“What’s that slippery sea dog up to now?” muttered Captain Cactus taking the telescope from Chicory.

“You don’t think Greenbelly’s got wind of our mission do you?”

“How could he, Chic?  No one heard us!”

Chicory leaned over the pig-pen and scratched Oink’s head.

            “Don’t pet that pig, Chicory” yelled Cactus.  “It’s for sale, remember.”

Chicory pulled a face behind her back.

            “Why’s he called Greenbelly, anyway?” she asked.

            “Well”, said Cactus, fishing a book out of her pocket, “my ‘Pirates Whose Who’ says it’s because he gets land sick.”

            “Don’t you mean sea sick, Cap’n?”

            “It only happens when he’s on land for some reason, Chic.”

            “What’s it say about you then?”

            “I am a Buccaneer.  That means I work for the Crown,” explained the Captain.

            “The Crown Inn?” asked Chicory.

            “By that it means the King, you idiot.  One day we are most definitely going to have to do something about your education, Chicory.”

            Later that same day, aboard the Sea Slug, Captain Greenbelly was outlining a plan to Albert and Ross.

            “You know what to do men; after dark we’ll creep on board and grab it.  Then we sail away before they are awake!”